Re: Fastrack shelf life

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

SUSAN SWOPE-ATTARDI wrote:
> 
> I had the same concerns about the Fast Track and it's shelf life.  I asked
> my vet and he said that it is not even activated until it reaches moisture.
> He had a word for that.... can't remember what it is.  I have to ask my
> biologist husband, or perhaps someone else knows.  At any rate, he said it
> has an extremely long shelf life, as long as it is kept dry.  Doesn't
> Reactivate until reaching the stomach of the horse.

That was what I remembered as well, but couldn't remember for sure, so
this afternoon I called Dr. Larry Roth, Ph.D, the head of Conklin
Company's Research and Development, the manufacturers of Fastrack.  He
said pretty much just what you did, that Fastrack is VERY stable and
that it only activates when the temperature is raised to body
temperature, as in when it hits the stomach and thereafter.

I asked about the "three week shelf life" and he was amazed (and more
than a little pissed) that anyone is quoting their department as
supposedly having said such a thing.  He said (and I quote) that the
only way you'll have a significant die-off at three weeks is if you
store it at high temperatures, get it wet, let it freeze...use a
blowtorch...cook it in pasta...dump perchloric acid on it...you get the
picture.  If you keep it cool and dry, the shelf life is excellent.  He
also told me that in anticipation of *some* unavoidable die-off during
shipping specifically during the summer, the bags are overpacked to
allow for that---I just weighed an unopened 5-lb bag and the tare weight
was 5 pounds, 6 oz.

He also pointed out that probiotics were originally developed not for
horses, but for the food animal industry---whose owners are alot more
savvy and technically knowledgable, and alot less forgiving than the
average horse owner, so there is very little room for a less-than-par
shelf life, especially since your average dairy buys probios by the
ton.  It was very good point.

Anyway, he said to maintain the shelf life, just keep it from freezing
and less than 90 degrees for extended periods of time and don't let it
get wet.  Exposure to air won't affect it.

Susan G